Willow Creek Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I knew this would be the weak part of the day. Just didn't know it would be as bad as it turned out. I don't have a fear of water and know I can swim 300 yards so that isn't the issue.

I jogged out into the water and dove in, I reminded myself to realax and just swim which was fine, right up until I lifted my head to make sure I was on course. I looked to sight the bouy and it was nowhere in my field of vision. I had somehow managed to get 30 degrees or so of course in the first 50 yards, I turned toward the bouy and started swimming again, but now with little confidence in where I was going, I kept looking to be sure and had zero rythnm the rest of the way.

The best that can be said about my swim is I didn't drown.

What will I do differently, nearly everything. First is get a wetsuit, if for nothing else the bouyance.

Second, spend a lot of my training time this winter in the pool.

Third, get some open water swimming experience.

This event doesn's keep transition times, so other than slow, I am not sure what my time would have been.

Practice, my transitions. This was the first time I ever tried it, another smart move.

I knew the course so there were no surprises. The weather was somewhere between not good and terrible. At times there was standing water on the road, and at least a drizzle for my entire ride.

I would get in good enough shape to race my bike instead of being on a bike ride.

This wasn't as bad as getting out of the first transition, but I am sure didn't look the least bit practiced or professional.

Practice!

The run time was like the rest of the race. The best that can be said for it was, I finished upright, with no bodily fluids leaking, other than sweat.

Train more, train more, lose at least 12 pounds, train some more.

walked, drank water, ate a bananna, enjoyed the event with friends and family.


My overall conditioning, not finding this site sooner, and lack of experience limited me. All things that I can and will change.

I am pretty driven when I set my mind to something, and I have decided making myself competitive in my age group in this sport is a good goal.


First, congratulations to a member here for winning his age group, well done Trout. I am sure his race update will be much more indepth than mine.

I turn 50 next year, so I have almost a year to get myself ready. I am glad I found this site, the help and material I have found here has been great. Now that I have done this once, I know how bad I am and the things I need do work on.

As far as this event goes. First and foremost it is a charity event to raise money for the local Disabled American Veterans, this is only the 6th year for this event and it is growing by huge percentages each year. This year they raised over $22,000 for a very worthy cause.

I am sure they could do more to make it a more "professional" race, and it seems that is the direction it is moving.

For me, now I have a benchmark and a place to start. I know what I have, and what I need to do to get better. Hopefully, I will be able to find another race to fit into my schedule before the season ends. Next year I am looking forward to many more events after a long training filled winter.